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TinyS3 - ESP32-S3

by Unexpected Maker

Introducing the TinyS3 - The Tiny Mighty ESP32-S3 development board in the TinyPICO format!

TinyS3 is the latest in the super popular range of "Tiny" development boards. It's packed with amazing features and peripherals, wireless connectivity and stacks of Flash and PSRAM, all in the same tiny package size as the original TinyPICO!

Features

  • Dual 32bit Xtensa LX7 cores @ up to 240Mhz
  • RISC-V Ultra Low Power Co-processor
  • 2.4GHz Wifi - 802.11b/g/n
  • Bluetooth 5, BLE + Mesh
  • 8MB QSPI Flash
  • 8MB of extra QSPI PSRAM
  • 700mA 3.3V LDO Regulator
  • Low power RGB LED
  • ULTRA LOW Deep Sleep Current
  • USB-C Connector with back-feed protection
  • Native USB + USB Serial JTAG
  • LiPo Battery Charging
  • JST pads on the back supports PH connector
  • VBAT and 5V Sense Pins
  • 3D High Gain Antenna
  • 17 GPIO
  • Only 35 x 18mm in size
  • Compatible with TinyPICO & TinyS2
  • Board Dimensions: 35mm x 17.8mm
  • Max Thickness: 4.3mm at the USB-C end

Board Comparison Matrix

TinyS3 TinyS2 TinyPICO
Cores 2x Xtensa LX7 1x Xtensa LX7 2x Xtensa LX6
Speed Up to 240Mhz Up to 240Mhz Up to 240Mhz
ULP CoProc 1x RISC-V, 1x FSM 1x RISC-V, 1x FSM 1x FSM
SRAM 512K 320K 520K
FLASH 8MB 4MB 4MB
PSRAM 8MB 2MB 4MB
GPIO 17 17 14
Native USB CDC, OTG & USB Serial JTag CDC & OTG -
USB Conn USB-C USB-C USB-C & Micro-B
WiFi 2.4Ghz b/g/n 2.4Ghz b/g/n 2.4Ghz b/g/n
Bluetooth BT Classic, BLE 5 & Mesh - BT Classic & BLE 4.2
DAC - 2x 8bit 2x 8bit
ADC 2x 12-bit SAR /20 chan 2x 12-bit SAR /20 chan 1x 12-bit SAR /18 chan
UARTs 3 2 3
ETH MAC - Yes Yes
DMA Cont 5x TX chan, 5x RX chan - -
SDIO Yes - Yes
Release Date Feb 2022 July 2021 May 2019

Getting Started

Unexpected Maker ESP32-S3 boards can be used with CircuitPython, MicroPython, ESP-IDF or Arduino.

CircuitPython

Your board ships with the latest version of CircuitPython with ESP32-S3 support.

It also ships with the UF2 bootloader, so you can easily update your board with the latest CircuitPython firmware, whenever you desire.

Just plug your board into your computer and it will appear in your filesystem as a USB flash drive! Just copy your code over, or edit your code directly on the drive. Coding a microcontroller has never been easier!

As newer versions of CircuitPython are released, you are able to update as you require from circuitpython.org

If you need to grab the shipping CircuitPython code that comes with your board, you can grab the latest here

MicroPython

MicroPython has excellent support for the ESP32, and that includes the ESP32-S3.

If you would like to put MicroPython on your new board, please follow the flashing guide for your board from this firmware link and don't forget to erase your flash first!

For more information about developing projects on your new board, using MicroPython, check out the MicroPython documentation.

ESP-IDF

ESP32-S3 support in the IDF is part of the v4.4 release. The latest IDF is v5.0, but it's in early development, so I recommend you stick to the v4.4 release branch for the time being as there are some low level breaking changes in v5.

Check out the ESP32-S3 IDF docs for information on how to install it and develop for the ESP32-S3

Arduino

If you have not already setup your Arduino IDE environment to work with ESP32, please follow the official Espressif ESP32 Arduino Core instructions to install it.

Arduino support for the ESP32-S3 is available in 2.0.3 and later. Please install the latest version to be able to select ESP32-S3 boards with the latest fixes and features.

Downloads

github

The Unexpected Maker ESP32-S3 github Repo includes the following items:

  • 3D STEP file for the TinyS3
  • KiCAD 6 symbol file for the TinyS3 that you can use when integrating one of them into one of your PCB designs
  • KiCAD 6 footprint file for the TinyS3
  • PDF Schematic for the TinyS3
  • Hi-res pinout reference card for the TinyS3
  • Fritzing parts (soon)

25 customer reviews

7 months ago
It's a very nice little gaming console with a decent display and an aluminium case that looks and feels quite sturdy and durable. You can find some games for it on the internet - but the real fun could be writing those by yourself. When I tried I found a reason that makes me write this four-star-only rating. To access the debug pins of the built-in RP2040 you have to open and remove the case. It would have been much nicer if there was one removable panel with those pins behind...
by Thomas about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
7 months ago
Well built, feels very premium. There's a decent little community making games for it, and it can run things like an NES emulator without too much issue. I am not currently a skilled enough C++ developer to make anything worth playing for it, but I did manage some basics reasonably quickly.
by Ed about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
9 months ago
I'm really impressed by what this tiny thing is able to do! I was able to write a simple game in a matter of hours... You can even upload a NES emulator on it.
by Benoît about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
2 years ago
An awesome system based on RP2040. Build quality is very solid and the device has a very nice weight to it. Battery life is also very good. Comes with a nice platformer pre-installed. I haven't made anything with it yet but look forward to adapting my Pico Display games to this one.
by Mircea about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
I am very happy and also surprised, I received all the material in eight days from the order, congratulations! Everything arrived in perfect condition and Pimoroni products are always of excellent quality. Thank you!
by Giuseppe about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Small, cute and very nice hardware. Especially aluminium body is great.
by Anonymous about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Great device but haven't got it working on my linux mint install yet.
by Daniel about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Very clicky buttons, bright screen and looks good in motion. The build feels very solid.
by Matthew about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Very comfortable in hand. Seem sturdy enough to lend it to my small children. I am in the process of porting one of my web game to it. Very easy to program for it, or, if that's not your thing, to load the few available games on it.
by Julien about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Amazing little gizmo. Really well made and feels solid. Need to learn about writing my own games and such for it but the hardware and possibilities are fantastic
by Fiona about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
It’s a nice little handheld with a good sdk though I wish the debug pins were more accessible
by Henry about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Simply amazing! The quality of this product is off the charts! The rest is up me, getting my programming skills to a level where I can make a game worthy of the system.
by Luke about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
The ordering experience was very quick. The delivery to the USA was fairly quick using Royal mail during this time of Covid.
by Gelsomino about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
This is an incredibly well made system. I hope to be able to develop some nice games with it.
by Michael about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
First impression of the RP2040-based tiny game console PicoSystem is really positive. Ridgid build quality, robust FPS and responsive buttons!
by Johannes about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Oh yeah going to get my game programming on. Default games on the Pimironi website are good too. 10/10 would recommend.
by Rohan about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
System works well, instructions are good. I had issues with tool chain on windows for raspberry pico sdk. Once I switched to Debian in virtual box everything worked fine. I recommend using putty and ssh for programming to get copy paste functionality and winscp to copy files. The hardware is very well built and I highly recommend it.
by Todd about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Amazing little video game machine in your pocket where programming is as easy as editing a text file on a USB drive!
by Chipp about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
It looks like a commercial games device, it looks really good. Solid build and I cannot wait to start building games and apps for it.
by Stephen about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
The build quality is extremely good. Especially the aluminium case makes it feel great. The screen has a good quality but it’s pretty small which kind of makes the charm of the PicoSystem. The 32blit SDK is great for developing own games and it has an active community behind it. There are also other SDKs available which I haven’t had experience with yet. Overall the PicoSystem is great for getting into retro game development.
by Anonymous about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
A very cool little device. I love the metallic body and front plate.
by Anonymous about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Great little device! It feels super solid and high-quality, and looks fantastic. The RP2040 is very nice so far, and importantly, both the PicoSDK and the PicoSystem SDK are very easy to use, especially the examples in the PicoSystem repo. If you've dabbled in retro console game dev, the PicoSystem is something like a GBA packed into the size of a GB Micro, and has similar limitations in RAM and ROM, just with a smaller screen (but roughly twice the pixels of the original GB at 240x240 vs 160x144), same button count as the original GB, a much faster CPU, and MUCH better documentation. Highly recommend it; it's a lot of fun.
by Ulises about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Very nice build quality, but the game library is quite lacking right now.
by Anonymous about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
Fantastic pocket-ready build, both C++ and CircuitPython ready. 32blit SDK has been great to work with so far!
by John about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
The fit and finish in the PicoSystem is outstanding and the SDK tools provided to get started provided everything I needed to start tinkering.
by Matthew about PicoSystem via REVIEWS.io

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